The Boy and his Beowulf
by irishgoblin
Summary: This is part one of something I've been working on that plays on the back story of the Grimm, and the characters will include nods to Irish folklore.
1. Discovery

"Liath, it's time to get up", his step-mother said.

Liath was an average 16 year old in terms of height, a bit more than average in build, with black hair, the only stand out feature on his face being his grey eyes, hence his name.

"Ungh", he grunted in response. It was early on a Saturday morning, just before dawn. Liath would be going out on patrol with his step-father, Colm, to check the outer traps for Grimm presence. While those in the cities had the comfort of walls to protect them from Grimm, out in here in the wilds, everyone had to help out where they can. One lax in the defence of their little village would mean lives lost, as Liath knew all too well.

Liath's biological father was a man by the name of Fionn, who was a great Huntsman in his prime, but he retired to a village tucked away in valley on the 'no man's land' mass between Vacuo and Atlas after Liath's mother. Due to their remoteness, healthcare and medicine was hard to come by, so women dying during child birth wasn't uncommon.

Getting dressed, Liath left his room and went to the kitchen to wulf down his breakfast. As he was spooning the last few mouthfuls of the sludge that his step-mother called porridge into his mouth, his step-father entered the room, bow slung across his back. Out here in the middle of nowhere, Dust was hard to come by, so more traditional methods were used to fend off Grimm.

"You ready, lad?", Colm asked him.

"Just about", was what Liath tried to say, but it came out as "Juff abo-Ack!" thanks to the gruel in his mouth, a portion of which had just entered his lungs.

"Tough it out, lad. That porridge will put hair in the places you need" his step-father chortled.

Liath's obscene retort was lost in the coughing fit that happens when you inhale while trying to speak with your mouth full.

Colm was a short but stocky man, and surprisingly agile. He and Liath's father were on the same Team in some place called Vale far to the south east when they were young, and their camaraderie lead to them being as close as brothers when they retired, so it was only natural for Colm to take in his friends son when he passed away. Colm favoured a bow that collapsed into a short sword (that he named Bertha for some reason), while Liath's father preferred a spear called Gae Bulg that was able to accept vials of dust that would imbue the weapon with different effects, a spear Liath had inherited, minus the dust.

"Will _she_ becoming with us?", Liath asked.

"No, just you, me and Bertha". Colm also treated his bow-come-sword as a person.

The _she_ that Liath was talking about was a girl by the name of Aideen, and she had the temper to match her fiery name. Due to the weird gun she liked using, she was also accounted for a third of the villages Dust consumption. But the fact she wouldn't be coming with them could only mean one thing, Colm wanted see just how much of Liath's father was in him.

According to Colm, Fionn, Liath's father, had a peculiar ability, separate to his Semblance yet linked to his Aura. He had the ability to project his Aura a short difference. This had no affect on humans, faunus or animals, but apparently it was enough to mess with Grimm in such a way that they would either act slightly confused, or even run if they were young enough. When Liath asked why age the young would run, or even how they knew they were young, his step-father explained that Grimm get more powerful with age, and at most his fathers ability would just annoy an adult Grimm. Liath was told that if he discovered he did have the ability, to tell only his step-father. Only a handful of people knew Fionn had had the ability, and most thought it was unnatural, even demonic. As Liath's step-father put it, what kind of demon does it take to stare down the devil and win?

When Liath was done eating, cleaned up the its of his breakfast that hadn't quite made it to his mouth and kissed his step-mother goodbye, he grabbed his father's spear from the storage shed and met his step-father at the gate.

"You two off to check the outer traps?", asked Dean, the bear faunus night guard for the villages north gate. Dean was a friendly guy with a friendly smile, but many were intimidated by his appearance due to his large build and hands the size of plates. If anyone had at least the build to go toe to toe in a bare knuckle brawl with an Ursa, it was Dean.

"Yeah, hopefully it won't be more than a simple reset of the triggered traps. Something definitely got caught after the racket we heard last night" Colm replied. A downside to living out in a valley such as this is that sound carries far, and Grimm make a lot of noise when they get caught in one of the traps.

"Do you have a flare gun?" Dean asked.

"Knew I forgot something, back in a sec", Colm replied. He then went to the supply building to get a flare gun, all the while grumbling to Bertha about his memory going.

The patrols used flare guns with different dust types to indicate their if help is needed. Red meant Grimm had breached the perimeter, yellow meant a trap was in need of repair, blue meant a patrol had to stay out longer than intended for whatever reason, second blue meant they were on the way back. A single green meant the patrol was stopping to repair a trap with a second shot to indicate they were moving again, two consecutive shots meant it was damaged beyond repair and needed to be replaced, and three meant it was gone completely and be on alert, as any Grimm that can completely remove a trap like that is not the kind you want wandering around inside your perimeter. Black was only ever used if there was a fatality.

"I take the lack of little miss trigger finger means Colm wants to see if you can do it too?", Dean asked Liath.

"If there's anything still alive in the traps that isn't edible, yeah". The traps also caught unsuspecting wildlife from time to time.

Dean was one of the few people who knew Fionn's secret. He saw it first hand when Liath's father saved him from a pack of young Beowolves. Ever since then, Dean has kept an eye on Liath out of thanks to Fionn. It was Dean who brought Liath to this village after Fionn passed.

Colm returned, still grumbling to the bow, and they set off into the pre-dawn light. It would take them an hour to reach the first trap in the west, and by the time the come full circle going through all 4 points of the compass and checked all traps and the area around them for Grimm tracks, it would be noon, but could be almost time for dinner if a lot of repairs had to be done.

The first dozen traps weren't touched, by Grimm or beast. The first trap they came to that was triggered, by what they couldn't tell thanks to Grimm disappearing shortly after death. Whatever it was did a real number on the trigger mechanism, and it took half an hour to hammer the twisted metal back into shape using nearby rocks. No other traps that were triggered needed to be repaired after that, and they managed to pick up some meat from the local animals that got trapped.

Liath cursed his step-fathers big mouth, as Colm had just finished saying that they could be back in time for lunch when they came across a nightmare. The scene that was spread before them was a mix of mangled metal, shattered trees and pulverised dirt. Assuming the shallow pits that lined up with each other in places were tracks, something _big _had triggered one trap, and in it's efforts to escape it stumbled into and destroyed the next 3 traps in the chain, before freeing itself and wandering off. Liath stared in shock at the carnage, wondering what could have done this kind of damage and escape. The only Grimm Liath knew of in terms of appearance and size were Ursai, Beowulves and the tiny Nevermores. Liath assumed that there were bigger Grimm, but not how much bigger they might be. Whatever had done this was at least the size of a small house.

Liath heard his step-father grumble about something called a 'Death Stalker' and 'Great Widow', before Colm came to his senses and told Liath to fire the appropriate number of flares. 12 green flares flew into the air consecutively, no doubt sending the village on high alert.

Liath and Colm continued on, thankfully without finding a single triggered trap or trace of Grimm until they reached the last few traps. The last few were in easy viewing distance of each other, and while two of the smaller ones had been tripped, it looked like it was done by local wildlife, not Grimm. Colm and Liath decided to take a trap each, and clean up the animal blood and reset a trap each.

Whatever had been caught in Liath's trap had freed itself and dragged itself of into the under brush, leaving trail of blood. Judging by the amount and that it mostly dry, whatever it was was dead by now It was as Liath was resetting his trap, he heard it. He froze in place and looked around, but there was nothing there. Just as he was about to go back to work he heard it again. A breath. Liath looked over at his step-father to see if it was him, but Colm was too far away for Liath to hear him breath. Liath dismissed it as a figment of his imagination, and almost triggered the trap he just reset when he heard it once more. This time Liath was sure there was something alive near him.

It must be the animal that got caught in the trap, Liath thought to himself. He was surprised something could survive for so long given the rather substantial amount of blood at the trap that had almost dried completely. So he grabbed his spear and and went into the under brush, following the nearly dry blood trail to put the poor animal out of it's misery. The trail lead to a under a small bush. Liath lifted the thicket...and came face to face with a Beowulf.

Liath leapt back whilst emitting a noise that was part obscenity, part (very deep, and manly) squeal of surprise. He landed with a thud, his legs having carried him further than he thought possible, as his step-father rushed over to his aid. When Colm reached Liath, he followed his step-sons gaze into the under brush.

"What the ..." Colm started to say but trailed off as his brain began to comprehend what was before him.

Staring back at Liath and Colm was what looked like a Beowulf at first glance, but Liath had to rub his eyes to try and understand it. It was smaller than the average Beowulf. A cub, maybe? Who knows with Grimm. It also appeared to be more... evolved than a regular Beowulf. To Liath, it looked like it could run on all fours or sprint on its hind legs and it wouldn't look out of odd, instead of the shuffle done by regular Beowolves.

But the stand out features were that it had white fur instead of black, black mask with blue lines and eyes instead of the usual white with red lines and eyes. And it was also bleeding. Blood. Actual red blood was coming from a Grimm, instead of the black smoke that always comes from their wounds.

Colm began to move, sliding into the usual stance he uses to fire Bertha. But something about the Beowulf made something stir in Liath. Liath knew that this Beowulf was friendly, that it didn't mean him and his step-father any harm. Was this his father's gift? The one that can make Grimm turn tail? Whatever it was it made him put his hand on Colm's arm, which got him a weird look to say the least.

"Don't shoot it", Liath said.

"What did you say?", said Colm.

"I said don't shoot", Liath said.

"Did you hit your head, lad? That thing is a Grimm, it is the enemy. It will gladly kill you, me, your step-mother and the entire village if given the chance, and you're defending it?" Colm barked.

"I'm not defending it. I'm just saying don't shoot it. Don't ask me how, but I know that thing won't attack us." Liath replied.

"What do you mean you know?" Colm demanded.

"I just do, I don't know how to explain it. I just know it doesn't feel hostile towards us. Its just my instinct telling me this." Liath answered.

Colm was shocked by his answer.

"You know... how it feels? On instinct? Even though I made you focus on other ones caught in the traps, you meet one wired looking one Beowulf and poof, Grimm guru." Colm said, more to himself than to Liath. He looked at the sky and said something under his breath. Liath wasn't sure what he said but he heard his father's name.

"So, what do you want to do?" Colm asked him.

Liath thought for a few seconds, and looked into the eyes of the injure Beowulf, which had been silently watching his and Colm's exchange, and had an idea.

"Colm, do you think it looks like a cub?" Liath asked

This time Colm was taken aback.

"What in the name of.. What do you mean?" Colm asked.

"Does it look like a baby Beowulf" Liath asked

"Yeah, I suppose it does a bit. Why do you ask?" Colm said.

"Well, Grimm supposedly feed off negative emotions, right. What if a very young one were exposed to positive emotions? Could it adapt? Could it..." Liath trailed off after seeing the Duluxe colour chart of emotions cross Colm's face.

"Could it become an ally, that what your were going to say?" Colm said heatedly.

"Yeah" Liath replied weakly.

Colm 'harrumphed', was quiet for several minutes, before turning around and going behind a tree, perhaps because he couldn't stare Liath in the eye, or maybe he couldn't stand the silent scrutiny of the ice blue eyes half hidden in the under brush.

When Colm returned, he had 2 conditions:

Liath had to carry the Grimm back to the village.

Liath had to explain to everyone else in the village why they brought it back with them, especially with the alert.

So Liath treated the Grimm's wounds as he would a dogs. Other than some painful pining, it made no sound during its treatment. The first condition back fire almost immediately, as the Grimm, despite its size was surprisingly light, and Liath was able to carry it on his back with ease.

"You really doing this?" Colm asked.

"Yeah" Liath replied.

"You've definitely got your fathers determination, lad. It's no matter, even if it doesn't die of blood loss, it probably won't last long, Grimm don't last long in captivity" Colm said with a sense of content finality.

Somehow, I think this Grimm has a lot of life left in it, Liath thought to himself.

"Well, at least I have an hour to come up with an excuse for my new partner" Liath said.

Colm snorted at the way Liath said partner, as if it was going to last longer than 2 nights.

And with that, they went home.


	2. A less than warm welcome

"What the hell is _that_?" was what welcomed Liath and Colm upon their arrival at the villages main gate. It had taken them a half hour longer than usual to return, as carrying the injured Beowulf meant they had to take a less direct route due to the regions topography.

The question came from Aideen, a girl in the village who was 16, like Liath. She was 5 feet 10 inches, 3 inches shorter than Liath. She high cheekbones, straight nose and thin lips. Her hair was a shade of auburn that looked like flames in the right light, and her eyes were a ghostly green. Oh, she also had a temper that rivaled an Ursa's, with the tongue and trigger finger to match. Her weapon, which was currently leveled at the Beowulf's head behind Liath's shoulder, was custom. She called it a "Dust Magnum", while everyone else called it a waste of resources (but not to her face due to the aforementioned trigger finger). It looked like an energy based revolver, except instead of a rotating cylinder there was a cartridge that were good for up to 24 shots, which could be interchanged with other cartridges depending on the type of Dust being used. Said cartridges were difficult to produce with the tools present in the village, and as such for every 2 cartridges Aideen made, enough Dust for 3 would be used.

Going off the pale red glow coming from the rear of the cartridge, Liath guessed that there was one of the explosive fire cartridges loaded. If the situation wasn't defused, Liath would be loosing either some hair or his whole head depending on Aideens aim.

"Liath, Colm, answer the question. An explanation for the flares would be nice as well." said Mike, a peacock faunus who favored a simple rifle. Almost half the villages guards had gathered atop the wall, and all of them had their weapons pointed at the creature on Liath's back. Liath felt the creature shift, as if it were a baby animal using its mother for protection.

"Well Liath, you heard them. Answer the question." Colm said with a smug grin, setting Bertha, his bow-sword, on the ground. Liath silently cursed his step-father, as he had been hoping Colm would explain why they had sent up so many flares before Liath would need to explain the Beowulf.

So, with enough fire power to take down several dozen Ursai in a few seconds pointed at him, Liath set the Beowulf on the ground explained their patrol, making sure he was between the Grimm and the guns. He described how it was relatively uneventful until they came across the four traps that had been destroyed. He explained that it looked like a single massive Grimm had triggered one trap and then plowed through the rest as it tried to free itself before leaving, dragging the traps and some trees with it.

"Well that explains the flares, but what about that thing cowering behind you. How did you get that wound, and how are you walking around so nonchalantly with it?" Mike asked him.

"Wound? What wound..." Liath said as he looked down at himself, and realized what Mike meant. There was blood going from mid chest down to Liath's knees, with the point of origin a crease in Liath's top that must have looked like a gash from the wall.

"The bloods not mine, it's the Grimm's." Liath said, and the sound of jaws hitting the ground could probably be heard for miles.

"Did you just say that a Grimm _bled_ all over you?" demanded Aideen. The question and the surprise was understandable. From almost the same age they could hold a weapon, children in the village were taught they what little was known about Grimm. The one that usually sticks in peoples minds is that they don't bleed, they smoke. So being told that a Grimm could bleed, and bleed the same colour blood as humans, is quite the slap in the face.

"Well, yeah." Liath answered, and continued to explain finding the injured Grimm and how it did not act hostile towards Colm or himself. Liath glossed over how he 'knew' the Grimm wasn't hostile, as that would mean divulging the secret he and his father shared, of being able to scare off Grimm. One by one, the people on the wall lowered their weapons, and Liath breathed a sigh of relief as he side stepped to give the people on the wall a good view of the injured Beowulf. He could hear "white fur", "black mask" and "blue markings" being murmured in curious discussion.

"So," Mike asked, "why did you bring it back?"

"He wants it to be his partner" Colm said, finally speaking up, but still with that smug smile as if he knew something Liath didn't, something painfully obvious. The people on the wall froze, and half turned to Liath, the other half to Aideen. 'Why Aideen?', Liath thought to himself

"Is that true?" Aideen asked him in a flat but dangerous tone, her back turned to him.

"Yeah, if it survives, I want to see if I can train it and make it my hunting partner. Having a friendly Grimm would be pretty handy, don't you think?" Liath responded, unaware of the hole he had just dug.

It was as Liath heard the electronic whine of the Dust Magnums safety being released and Aideen spun to face and aim at him, Liath realized the gravity of what he said.

Partner. He'd said partner. Because they were of the same generation and training to be a Hunter and Huntress respectively, he and Aideen had been paired up. In little more than a year they would join up with 2 more aspiring Hunters/Huntresses from nearby villages and form a team, then go off to one of the Hunting Academies in one of the city-kingdoms, about a year after that. And Liath had just said he wants to do that with a Grimm instead of Aideen. There was only one person in the village, maybe in the entire world, that could save Liath. However, given the situation, they might just let Aideen shoot Liath.

Liath knew no one on the wall would help, because getting in the way of Aideen and her target was a good way to get shot. Liath looked to his step-father, but the look on his face told Liath he was trying to figure out what to put on Liath's tomb stone.

"Now look, Aideen I can explain-" Liath's words were cut off by the red flash of the gun firing and the screech of the weapon discharging. At almost the same time, Liath felt something hit the back of his knees, causing them to give way. The bolt of energy flew through the space where Liath's left ear had just been, and slammed a nearby tree with a deep 'kathoom', showering Liath in splinters.

The area was silent.

"Am I dead?" Liath asked loudly.

"No, but you do have weak legs, chicken bones" Aideen answered venomously, and there was unsettled laughter from those on the wall. Liath thought he heard the sound of the Dust Magnum returning to its holster on Aideens leg.

"No, that's not it." Colm said.

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

'Where were you earlier? I needed someone to cool off Aideen' Liath though to himself.

"Liath, did you feel anything before you fell?" Colm asked.

"Yeah, something hit the back of my knees" Liath replied.

"So, it wasn't just my imagination. Liath didn't fall, he was knocked down." Colm said matter-of-factually.

"By what" someone Liath couldn't see asked.

"By the Beowulf. It's been watching us the entire time, and it only began to take notice when Aideen pointed her gun at Liath a second time. The Beowulf saved him." Colm explained.

"Saved him? Are you saying I would have hit him? I'll show you how good a shot I am" Aideen replied incredulously. Aideen, despite practicing everyday, wasn't the best shot and was very touchy over the matter. Luckily, someone grabbed her arm to stop her from drawing her gun again.

The clearing by the gate was quiet once again, as everyone considered what Colm had said and stared curiously at the injured Beowulf. The peace was shattered so suddenly that the Grimm and Liath yelped in fear simultaneously, and those on the wall probably would have laughed if not for what had broken the silence.

"Liath Ciarán Cathal MacCumhaill, you want to do what with that Grimm?" a shrill voice screeched, coming from a figure who had just appeared on the wall.

"Oh feck" Colm muttered. The voice belonged to Caoimhe, Colm's wife, Liath's step-mother and the one woman in the village who could scare off a wild animal by shouting at the poor creature.

Caoimhe was on the same team as Colm and Liath's father, along with another woman named Niamh who lived in a nearby village. She was a woman in her mid-forties, slightly shorter than Liath, and was of muscular build from her days as a Huntress. She had a scare that ran down the left side of her face, leaving her left eye milky white and unusable. Her personality, coupled with her preferred weapon in her youth, had earned her the nickname of 'Battleaxe', though no one dared say it to her face. Even Aideen was scared of her, and is usually the only one who can talk Aideen out of shooting at something.

"Listen here boy, you have another thing coming if you think you're bringing a wild animal into my house." Caoimhe stated with a scary sense of finality.

"But Miss..." Liath pleaded. Liath had to call her Miss, because, as Caoimhe put it, she wasn't his actual mother, so 'mum' was out of the question, and calling her Caoimhe out right was too informal for her.

"Don't you 'But Miss' me, or I'll get the rolling pin and break it across your backside." She retorted. Liath knew from experience she wasn't lying.

"Go easy on the lad, Caoimhe. First he carried the Beowulf all the way here from one of the perimeter traps, then Aideen nearly blows his head off. He'd be dead if the Beowulf hadn't knocked him down." Colm said, trying to calm his wife down.

"Is this true, girl?" Caoimhe said, turning to Aideen to glare at her. Liath felt a slight bit of pleasure as Aideen cowed before the older woman, but also sympathy cause he had been on the receiving end of those glares many times.

"Mm...mm..maybe" Aideen said sheepishly.

There was silence for several long and tense minutes.

Eventually, Caoimhe sighed and eyed the Beowulf.

"You said it saved him from Aideen's terrible aim?" she asked.

"I said it knocked him down, but yeah it saved him." Colm responded.

"Liath, I am only going to say this once. That mutt is not coming into our house. But, I suppose it can stay in the shed out the back." Caoimhe said. While the village didn't have any form of government or ruling body, running on the basis that everyone was equal, few would go against Caoimhe when it came to matters involving Grimm due to her experience and appearance.

Still, people began to protest before she silenced them with a look.

She continued, "Should it not be tame able or step out of line once tamed, then it is used as target practice." Aideen and a few of the others got a menacing glint in their eyes at that.

It was 20 minutes later that Liath was in the shed with the Beowulf in front of him, ready to try and stitch up the creature injuries. The entire village was buzzing with the news, and many seemed to be giving the shed a wide berth. The Beowulf was fast asleep, breathing heavily. Whether that was normal or not Liath had no idea. Liath gently picked up the front right paw of the creature, the part covered in the most blood, and examined it to find where the trap had left its mark.

As his step-father scoffed at his care for handling the Grimm, something odd struck Liath.

There was no wound to be found. Just blood stained fur.

"It was definitely the front right paw that had the wound, right?" Liath asked.

"Yeah, why?" Colm responded.

"It's gone." Liath said.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Colm asked.

"I mean it's gone. Almost like it healed itself." Liath said.

"Healed itself? That might explain why it was so quiet." Colm pondered.

It was then that 2 things struck Liath.

The Beowulf was definitely going to last longer than 2 nights Colm had said it would.

Liath was going to think of a name.


End file.
